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A memory submitted by Dale Coco, M.D., Class of 1968

Two professors at SMU shaped my life and career. Jack Strange and Harold Jeskey are greatly responsible for who I am and what type of physician I became.

I can still see Dr. Strange rushing into class, a stack of books and papers in one hand and the ever present cigar in the other. He did not teach subject matter. He taught you how to think and evaluate, and then inspired you to learn everying you could about anything you wanted to know about.

I will never forget Dr. Jeskey standing in front of the class rocking on those huge feet, addressing us as men (no matter how many girls were in the class) and making it tough on us by demanding excellence and perfection in everything we did. He prepared us for medical school and what it takes to be a physician. How glad were we to see him wearing his SMU tie or a red tie and how devastated were we to see a black tie on test day. “It’s a black tie day” is still part of my vocabulary. How proud were we when he was at our med school graduation to give us all (his boys) a red tie that I still have and cherish today over 40 years later.

The value of those types of teachers cannot be calculated in any other way than the human terms of the lives they influence.